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Chapter 13. Scifotainment

Evolving multimodal engagement in online science news
  • Yiqiong Zhang

Abstract

This article adopts a multi-analytical perspective to examine engagement in an evolving science communication website. The website has evolved to engage readers from a “verbal nucleus” inherited from traditional news to a “hypermodal nucleus” that caters to the information consumption style of social media, and further to a “scifopost” that integrates social media post into the design. The evolution is driven by the shift from a “deficit model” to a “democracy model” in science communication and a larger cultural shift in the nature of knowledge creation and transmission. Furthermore, the more malleable multimodal resources as compared with verbal resources spearhead the shift from channels for science information to entertainment and engagement, which in turn triggers a similar shift of functions in verbal resources.

Abstract

This article adopts a multi-analytical perspective to examine engagement in an evolving science communication website. The website has evolved to engage readers from a “verbal nucleus” inherited from traditional news to a “hypermodal nucleus” that caters to the information consumption style of social media, and further to a “scifopost” that integrates social media post into the design. The evolution is driven by the shift from a “deficit model” to a “democracy model” in science communication and a larger cultural shift in the nature of knowledge creation and transmission. Furthermore, the more malleable multimodal resources as compared with verbal resources spearhead the shift from channels for science information to entertainment and engagement, which in turn triggers a similar shift of functions in verbal resources.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Foreword xi
  5. Chapter 1. Networking engagement in professional practices 1
  6. Section I. Monomodal genres
  7. Chapter 2. Positioning and proximity of reader engagement 29
  8. Chapter 3. Authorial engagement in business emails 47
  9. Chapter 4. Challenging the concept of pure objectivity in British and Spanish hard news reports 67
  10. Chapter 5. Rebuilding trust in the banking sector 87
  11. Chapter 6. Interrogative engagement as a pragmatic and textual function in Legal Studies 101
  12. Chapter 7. Patients engaging their doctors in the doctor-patient relationship 119
  13. Chapter 8. “Let’s have that conversation on next quarter’s call” 137
  14. Section II. Intersemiotic genres
  15. Chapter 9. Multiplying engagement 157
  16. Chapter 10. Researchers’ move from page to screen 179
  17. Chapter 11. Recruitment websites and the socialization of new employees 197
  18. Chapter 12. Verbal and nonverbal engagement devices in business persuasive discourse 217
  19. Chapter 13. Scifotainment 243
  20. Chapter 14. How much do U.S. patents disclose? 259
  21. Chapter 15. Gestural silence 277
  22. Chapter 16. Silence and engagement in the multimodal genre of synchronous videoconferencing lectures 297
  23. Chapter 17. Organizational metadiscourse across lecturing styles 321
  24. Chapter 18. Engagement of readers/customers in the discourse of e-tourism promotional genres 341
  25. Notes on contributors 359
  26. Names Index 365
  27. Subject Index 367
Engagement in Professional Genres
This chapter is in the book Engagement in Professional Genres
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.301.13zha

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Foreword xi
  5. Chapter 1. Networking engagement in professional practices 1
  6. Section I. Monomodal genres
  7. Chapter 2. Positioning and proximity of reader engagement 29
  8. Chapter 3. Authorial engagement in business emails 47
  9. Chapter 4. Challenging the concept of pure objectivity in British and Spanish hard news reports 67
  10. Chapter 5. Rebuilding trust in the banking sector 87
  11. Chapter 6. Interrogative engagement as a pragmatic and textual function in Legal Studies 101
  12. Chapter 7. Patients engaging their doctors in the doctor-patient relationship 119
  13. Chapter 8. “Let’s have that conversation on next quarter’s call” 137
  14. Section II. Intersemiotic genres
  15. Chapter 9. Multiplying engagement 157
  16. Chapter 10. Researchers’ move from page to screen 179
  17. Chapter 11. Recruitment websites and the socialization of new employees 197
  18. Chapter 12. Verbal and nonverbal engagement devices in business persuasive discourse 217
  19. Chapter 13. Scifotainment 243
  20. Chapter 14. How much do U.S. patents disclose? 259
  21. Chapter 15. Gestural silence 277
  22. Chapter 16. Silence and engagement in the multimodal genre of synchronous videoconferencing lectures 297
  23. Chapter 17. Organizational metadiscourse across lecturing styles 321
  24. Chapter 18. Engagement of readers/customers in the discourse of e-tourism promotional genres 341
  25. Notes on contributors 359
  26. Names Index 365
  27. Subject Index 367
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